As is known, currently for the drive and control of such actuator devices fitted on motor vehicles, use is made in practice of a wiring system dedicated to electrical supply for the motor, which leads from a common central control unit for various actuator devices, which include relay units, limiter circuits etc. This wiring system involves various disadvantages, including: the complexity and difficulty of fitting bundles of wires, the high number of electrical connections, the difficulty of identification in the case of breakdowns, and the complexity of testing the operation of the system during and/or after assembly on the vehicle.
From EP-A-77 254 and FR-A-2 600 366 electric lock actuator devices are known, comprising an electric motor and a displacement actuator element displaceable with respect to a frame of said device under the action of said motor, for locking and releasing a lock in a vehicle, including a specific electronic unit for controlling said electric motor, said electronic unit comprising a plurality of components connected to a printed circuit and housed in a portion of said frame which is integral with a portion of the frame housing said electric motor.
In said EP document, the frame has a substantially parallelepipedal flat shape, with the printed circuit housed parallel to the bigger bases of the frame and fixed thereto by virtue of screws. This arrangement is disadvantageous since the resulting lock actuator is bulky and securing of the printed circuit requires additional operations involving manufacturing costs. In said FR document, on the contrary, no indication is given on the exact arrangement of the printed circuit within the frame, whereas the electronic unit accommodated on the printed circuit only comprises a pair of diodes.